Processing non-literal sentences in comprehending language

 The phrase we hear is not always reveal the meaning of each combination of words in the sentence. It often happens that the meaning of an element of A is compared with element B can not in search of the meaning of A and B. collocation between A and B rather than bring meaning but the meaning of AB is C. It Similarly, we often use what is called a metaphor, ie, a phrase which equates something (which is generally called a topic) with something else (which is called the a vehicle), although both are not the same. Old-fashioned phrases such as: bibirnya seperti delima merekah , rambutnya bagai mayang terurai and modern expression is sutan takdir adalah dewa dalam budaya dan sastra bangsa that does not have a literal meaning. We must know the delima merekah dan mayang terurai and was like what in the perception of what caused it. Similarly Sutan Alisjahbana certainly not gods. After that, then we know the intended meaning: delima merekah dan mayang terurai in the think of it beautiful, think of it being the god of wisdom who knows all, and so on. Therefore, bibir or rambut gadis is a beautiful one who knows a lot about literature  and culture of Indonesia. 

           The phrase idioms, metaphors and indirect questions like this we must also understand correctly. The question that arises is how we understand a sentence like this. The answer to this there has been no satisfactory. Some theories state that there are three stages in the processing. First we give a literal response to every word coming first. So when I heard the word trash, then all matters related to this word in our minds: {- animate}, {object}, {human} and so on. Similarly, when we hear the word tong. Then we give literal meaning to the words we hear it. In our example, we give literal meaning to the tongseng. Apparently collocation between the tong and seng, more so in the context he again ate tongseng, do not make sense. Because the knock on the interpretation of this kind then we go into the third processing stage, namely to find another meaning beyond the literal meaning of the impossible.